Thursday, 26 May 2011

My sister asked me to make her a baby sling for her baby who is due in July. As cotton is not in demand now due to the cold, I was a bit dubious if I would be able to find enough of the right colour to pull it off. So it was with great pleasure, I found, upon raiding the local wool shop, that not only did they have just enough balls BUT just the right colour! The very dark blue cotton looks quite purple in the light, which is one of the colours I know my sister would like. (Well her partner does anyway).

Of course I cleaned out the bargain basket and eagerly began crocheting away. :-) So as we see, I have yet another project on the go! Don't judge me okay? I will finish them all! Yes I will. :-)

Being pretty housebound this week as I have been unwell, I have also managed to whip up this little crystal beaded bracelet from the "Hooked on Crochet" book. Of course the pattern called for smaller wooden beads, but in my usual fashion I just went ahead and used what I had. And while it does look sweet on the wrist, I had hoped to make it into a necklace and found that the crystals are a wee bit heavy so it does not sit quite right. Now that I have the idea in my head, I think I shall design some patterns of my own and make them up with the crystals further into the pattern rather than on the edge.

The crystal beads are rose quartz and jade......very pretty.....

I also whipped up yet another pair of those granny slippers on order for my daughters boyfriend, who wanted a "bright" pair. LOL, so much for me being over it hey? Thankfully, my son has now demanded "real" socks so I am aiming to knit my first pair on 4 needles. I have never tried that yet after all these years of knitting. Since knitting these I also added a row of blue to the back square edging. (I ran out of red).

I also made some progress on the purple toddler dress which gave me a little grief when it came to the neckline. Will share that in another post when its finished. Hope everyone is having a lovely crafty week!

Saturday, 21 May 2011

I made this jumper in 2009 whilst my niece, little peanut was still nice and snug in her mama's tummy. I had previously made this for my other niece Jazzy in white in a newborn size and it was so sweet. I decided to give it a try in a bigger size and in some more daring colours......and was not disappointed with the results. I have to say, I LOVE this pattern, it is so sweet!

And now that her ladyship has finally grown into her jumper, I could not resist snapping a few shots to share with the world.

Here our little poser is dancing and strutting her stuff in her "teenage butt pants" (For the record, I intensely dislike jeans on kids under the age of about 4, they drive me insane, this pair was no exception when they were falling off her butt all day...LOL.. I swear her mama deliberately put them on her to stir me up...thankfully, she was changed into a much more appropriate pair of soft overalls, not long after these pics were taken)

SMOOCHIES XOXOX

This child is in no way camera shy, in fact she will stop what she is doing, pose, smile and then scrunch her face as the flash goes off, model in the making?

That is of course, until she has had enough, at which point .... well... ENOUGH Aunty K, look out or I will eat you.....GRRRRRRRRR......

She is of course a handful and a half, lucky she is so freaking adorable hey? I just love her to bits!

Friday, 20 May 2011

Ok so, the pattern says its supposed to be a dog, but I thought they look more like lambs.....too cute! Mine however have turned out looking like bears, LOL ......Oh well, they are still cute!

I found the pattern on Ravelry, a free pattern offered by Pikay94 Linxs and have realised after looking again that I did the ears wrong on the face. I had printed out the pattern without a picture and did not remember how it looked exactly. I have not yet added details to the face. Here is the baby of our family modelling them for you, little poser.......

I used Patons Jasmin, 5 ply crepe and ended up making the slipper all in blue as I did not have a contrasting colour in the same ply. Love the way they turned out and I will probably make them again with different wools. Now we just have to decide who to gift them to, somebodies feet are a tad too large.....

Thursday, 19 May 2011

I really must stop procrastinating and finish off all these little projects! In my usual fashion, I just keep starting new ones. The golden dayz cardy is awaiting a neckband and some buttons, the chunky purple toddler dress needs sewing together and edging and buttons, the hexy cardy just needs to be put together, the green one needs finishing.

Oh and then there are the bootees I started last night, and several pairs of slippers to be made, and as I have so much scrumptious wool floating about in baskets, I guess I should step away from the computer and get cracking hey?

Well I did manage to finish something..........granny square slippers take 2, this time made the same as the original plan called for.......complete with large square sole and front and back flaps.....after making the two pairs I have to admit to being kind of over it....not really to my taste......oh well, they are lovely and warm.

Thursday, 12 May 2011

I always like to carry a little crochet around in my bag, just in case you know? Don't want to be caught out with idle hands at all. So the other morning when I was off to meet a friend at the beach and I did not have a small enough project on the go, I threw some wool and a hook in my bag and thought I would just start a granny square.

Unsure of what to make with it, my friend reminded me of a pair of slippers I had found at an op-shop a while back. They were not the nicest colour but the ingeniousness of the idea caught me and I bought them home and filed them away with my stash and then promptly forgot all about them. So with them in mind, I churned out a few granny squares and then could not find the slippers. I went searching on Ravelry and found lots of granny square slippers I would like to try but not the ones I had.

Anyway, after beginning my own design and halfway sewing them, I did find one slipper and noted that it was a bit different, having another panel and fold down flap at front and back. Also, It had one big square as the sole and sides. I had made six small squares for each slipper.

This is my first go and although I think I would prefer each square to have a multiple colour scheme, I thought I would finish these anyway and I think they actually turned out quite cute.

The patterned wool is much lighter in tone than the pictures show and is a very warm looking colour. I am happy with this, my first attempt and found a similar pattern on Ravelry which I will try later. As I have a few people awaiting slippers, I am sure to try each of the styles have have found.

Wednesday, 4 May 2011

Do you know how long in crochet terms it takes to get from Melbourne to the central coast of NSW?

No? Well, it takes about this long......

It was rather comforting to keep my hands busy on the long long trek home...the camera does not really capture the colour so well, but this is a green cotton that I picked up for 50c a ball. Very lovely to work with.......

We made a few stops along the way, of course but I managed to finish most all in one day! And its taken me another week to finally get around to sewing it together and putting on a BIG button, which disguises a plastic press stud.

This is the same pattern I used for the Sea Shell wandering vest but this time I used a 5mm hook and it came out bigger.

I have to say though, I am not to happy with how it made the arms wider! I tried sewing it together a little but did not like it, so undid it again..... token self portrait....my arms are far too short for these type of shots.....

As I am keeping this one for myself, I am not too worried about the arms and will just WEAR it! LOL

I have not had a lot of time for my crafting this week. Trying to get back into the swing of homeschooling routines and catching up on housework, shopping and gardening has been keeping me very busy. I did manage to also sew up the edges on Golden Dayz.....it still needs some cabling for the shoulders and the neck band and buttons. And no, I did not "block" it at all. I honestly have never tried that with anything. Maybe one day I will learn......